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In this article, eco-efficiency – ‘sustainable development at the company level’ or ‘value added per environmental impact’ – is operationalized at the production unit level. An eco-efficiency index is developed and tested with 31 Finnish and 37 Swedish pulp, paper and board mills in 1993–1996. In essence, gross value added without a change in inventories is divided by environmental impact aggregated with seven valuation methods. The definition of eco-efficiency as sustainable development at the company level appears to be problematic. [Eco]2-efficiency does not include the third, ethical dimension sustainable development, but only ecology and economy. Value added is a limited indicator of economic performance and very sensitive to changes in market prices, while environmental impact changes with valuation assumptions. The Swedish mills were generally more eco-efficient, while the Finnish mills were more eco-efficient in integrated woodfree paper, solid bleached sulphate board and liquid packaging board. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil is a nonrenewable resource, and groundwater is a critical source of drinking water. Effective soil and water protection, assessment and, if affected, recovery from contamination are priorities around the world; eco‐friendly interventions in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are favored objectives. These issues were discussed during the sixth RemTech Europe conference (https://www.remtechexpo.com/it/remtech-europe/remtech-europe), which focused on sustainable technologies for land and water remediation; environmental protection; and the rehabilitation, regeneration, and sustainable development of contaminated sites, encouraging diverse stakeholders to share cutting‐edge technologies, case studies, and innovation. Effective, practical, and sustainable management of remediation is only possible if the projects are completed, which is supported when the participants start the remediation planning with this end in mind. Several strategies to support and achieve the finalization of sustainable remediation processes were discussed at the conference. Addressing these gaps were among the goals of the papers included in this special series, which were selected from the RemTech EU conference presentations. The papers include risk management plan case studies, bioremediation tools, and preventive measures for minimizing disaster impacts. Moreover, the use of common and shared international best practices for effective and sustainable contaminated site management, with policy alignment among the remediation stakeholders in different countries, was also reported. Finally, many regulatory gaps, for example, the lack of practical end‐of‐waste criteria for contaminated soils, were also discussed. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2023;19:910–912. © 2023 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC). Key Points: The RemTech Europe conference focused on sustainable technologies for land and water remediation; environmental protection; and the rehabilitation, regeneration, and sustainable development of contaminated sites; the articles in this special series reflect these strategies.Risk management plan case studies, bioremediation tools, preventive measures for minimizing disaster impacts, and practical end‐of‐waste criteria for contaminated soils were some of the issues discussed.Common and shared international best practices for effective and sustainable contaminated site management, with policy alignment among stakeholders in different countries, were highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low‐carbon sustainable development is considered an essential strategy for achieving economic growth and environmental protection, requiring a fundamental transformation of the industrial structure, including developing clean technologies, promoting energy efficiency, and adopting sustainable production and consumption patterns. Simultaneously, the evolving digital economy is acknowledged as an essential driver in optimizing the industrial structure. Therefore, can digital economy development reshape the industrial structure and lead to low‐carbon sustainable development? The main purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of industrial structure upgrading in the relationship between the digital economy and low‐carbon development. Its ultimate purpose is to explore more possible paths to achieve low‐carbon development. This paper builds a regression model based on the data of cities. We found that digital economic development can directly promote low‐carbon sustainable development, a conclusion that still holds after endogeneity discussion and robustness testing. Additionally, digital economy development can promote industrial structure upgrading and thus promote low‐carbon sustainable development, meaning that industrial structure upgrading is an effective mechanism for digital economy development to promote low‐carbon sustainable development. This paper provides empirical evidence for the positive environmental externalities of digital economic development and establishes a basic research framework of "digital economic development → industrial structure upgrading → low‐carbon sustainable development." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of sustainable development, the greatest challenge facing society today is to improve welfare of the disadvantaged while preserving the environment. This paper constructed a theoretical framework of "policy‐welfare‐environment," explored the effects in terms of individual welfare enhancement and village environment improvement, and conduct empirical tests on a sample of 1208 rural households in China. The results show that: (1) The assistance policy can significantly improve the overall welfare of the disadvantaged groups, and meanwhile, it can improve different dimensions of welfare, with the degree from high to low was a social opportunity, spiritual feeling, and economic situation. (2) The assistance policy can increase the probability of adopting environmental protection behavior, which in turn can significantly improve the village environment. (3) Welfare improvements in social opportunities mediate between the assistance policy and village environment improvements, while improvements in spiritual feelings and economic status do not. In addition, there is age heterogeneity in the welfare enhancement effect of the policy in the economic status dimension and the spiritual feeling dimension. The conclusions provide valuable policy enlightenment for assistance policy formulation and environmental governance, and can protect the ecological environment while improving public welfare, which is in line with the trend of sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to examine and compares perceptions, initiatives, and challenges perceived by manufacturing industries in India in respect of green marketing. The data were collected from a sample of 700 manufacturing industries employing a random sampling method. The present study results found that there is a high degree of acceptance of green marketing in the Indian industry, irrespective of the sector. The exploratory factor analysis extracted four factors that show green marketing practices: environmental concern, green promotional initiatives, green customer trust, and green marketing challenges. The findings suggested that all sample industries are concerned for the environment and believe that green marketing is significant for sustainable development. The study suggests that businesses should view protection of the environment as a market opportunity rather than solely as a means of complying with mounting environmental challenges and regulations. Green marketing should become the norm rather than the exception in a developing country like India. It can save the globe from environmental degradation and contribute to the long‐term growth of industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of the impact of central environmental protection inspection (CEPI) on corporate environmental, social, and governance（ESG) performance is important for reforming the operation mechanism of CEPI to improve its effectiveness and fundamentally enhance corporate ESG to achieve sustainable development. This paper empirically examines the mechanism of the impact of CEPI on corporate ESG performance using a multi‐period difference‐in‐differences (DID) model with a research sample of 674 listed firms in China from 2013 to 2018. The results show that CEPI can significantly improve corporate ESG performance, and the strengthening of regulation by local governments is a potential channel. The important internal governance mechanisms of foreign and institutional investor shareholding, as well as the external governance mechanisms of analyst following and media coverage, can effectively strengthen the improvement effects. Further analysis also reveals that there are differences in the effectiveness of different inspection approaches, with "look‐back" inspection outperforming routine inspection. Heterogeneity at the firm and regional levels is also a critical factor in causing differences in the effectiveness of ESG performance improvements. This work not only enriches the research on the micro‐effects of CEPI on firms but also provides a reference for firms to improve their ESG performance and use ESG for investment and business decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our planet is facing increasing challenges: climate change, biodiversity loss, pandemics, poverty, and many other problems closely linked to a deteriorating environment. Meanwhile, one of our most important assets, rangers working in protected and conserved areas responsible for managing large tracts of the planet's lands and waters, are often underutilized, underrecognized and underequipped. They are generally left out of the debate about conservation and sustainable development policy, despite being central to the success of those policies. This paper outlines the need for global leaders across multiple sectors to recognize the profession of rangers as essential planetary health workers and to position rangers more effectively within global conservation and environmental policy mechanisms. It introduces the challenges facing rangers, the emerging diversity of roles within the ranger profession and the important contribution of rangers to conservation and sustainable development. It presents policy and implementation avenues to improve recognition and professionalization of rangers as key executors of conservation and development policy, particularly considering the recent Global Biodiversity Framework ambitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The management and protection of forest resources has become one of the major issues of environmental protection globally. As the largest developing country in the world, China has determined that the construction of an ecological civilization is an important piece of a millennium plan for China's sustainable development. The ecological capital theory, which adheres to the idea of a harmonious coexistence between man and nature, provides an opportunity to open up a new chapter for the construction of ecological civilization. Based on the fact China is a country endowed with unique resources, this paper aims to provide a theoretical reference on how to maximize the value of forest ecological resources and promote the sustainable development of global forest resources. To gain clear insights, this paper uses the theory of ecological capital to discuss how to demarcate the concept of the capitalization of forest ecological resources. The internal motivation of the capitalization of forest ecological resources was analysed from two perspectives: how to keep the balance between ecological protection and resource development, and how people have changed the way of using forest resources. This paper has expounded how forest ecological resources are transformed to forest ecological assets and then forest ecological capital, indicating the realization path of the capitalization of forest ecological resources, that is, a direct utilisation of forest resources and indirect new ways of forestry management. It aims to provide theoretical references for maximizing the value of forest ecological resources and achieving the sustainable development of global forest resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As global ecological degradation intensifies, a trade‐off has arisen between environmental protection and production efficiency to achieve sustainable development for the environment, society, and the company itself. However, the potential reverse causality relationship between environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and corporate efficiency may lead to confusion. This study estimates the eco‐efficiency of Apple Incorporated's value‐chain counterparts in the first stage and creates values and profitability in the second stage of efficiency evaluation. Results obtained from the (i) directional distance function in the two‐stage data envelopment analysis (DEA), (ii) additive efficiency decomposition two‐stage network DEA model, and (iii) network slacks‐based measure model are consistent. That is, Apple counterparts manage more efficient eco‐efficiency than profitability efficiency, implying that eco‐efficiency is their competitive advantage. We thus also run a regression analysis to examine how the ESG ratings of Apple counterparts explain their eco‐efficiency and profitability efficiency. Although the overall ESG rating positively explains the efficiencies, we found that the individual governance rating shows no statistically significant effect. The regression results provide insight for practitioners on the importance of investing in the three aspects of a firm's collective conscientiousness for societal and environmental governance. This paper integrates companies' eco‐efficiency and profitability efficiency to resolve the conflict between environmental issues and production efficiency. It also analyzes in depth the effects of ESG and its three individual factors on eco‐, profitability, and average efficiencies. The diversity of research methods also provides new ideas for future research related to firm efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of customer concentration on green innovation in Chinese listed firms between 2006 and 2018 through the dynamic panel generalized method of moments regressions. It is reported that major customers positively impact corporate green innovation, indicating that firms have more incentives to engage in innovative green practices to maintain stable relationships with major customers. In addition, the positive relationship between customer concentration and green innovation is more pronounced in state‐owned enterprises, firms located in the provinces with a high level of marketization, and after China's new Environmental Protection Law implementation. Moreover, we observe that the positive impact of customer concentration on corporate green innovation is more significant among industrial firms and firms operating in heavily polluting industries. Furthermore, industrial competition is an essential channel for major customers to affect corporate green innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If unauthorized resource use is prevented, managing marine resources by allocating property rights may match economic and environmental conservation incentives. However, because of the developing exploitation of marine resources and accompanying pollution, species' living conditions in Europe's waters are changing more quickly than before. By considering the roles of fisheries productivity, intellectual property rights, intellectual capital rights, market size, governance, and economic growth from 1990 to 2022, this paper aims to investigate the dynamic effect of property rights factors on the sustainability of the fisheries industry in 27 European countries. At higher quantiles, the findings showed a significant positive association between governance and fisheries sustainability adopting a new method, the MMQR with fixed effects, the Method of Moments Quantile Regression. In addition, in EU27 nations, the impact of intellectual property rights was favorable and statistically significant from the first to ninth quantiles. The findings show that the EU14 developed nations have more excellent governance and intellectual capital rights than the EU13 developing countries, significantly benefiting fisheries sustainability. In the same way that market size and economic growth condense fisheries sustainability in EU14 developed and EU13 developing countries, it has been discovered that intellectual property rights do the same across all quantiles, supporting the growth hypothesis for fisheries‐producing countries. The findings specifically show that the beneficial solid impact of intellectual property rights, market size, and economic development on the sustainability of fisheries is more significant in EU13 developing nations than in EU14 developed countries. These results provide policymakers with helpful information for promoting property rights aspects in EU14 and EU13 nations via effective green technologies in the fisheries sector to meet sustainable development objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ecological pressure of humanity on the planet measured by ecological footprint has been enlarging, which upsurges environmental threats. At this point, green innovation emerges as an optimal solution to sustainable development which brings together economic growth and environmental protection. This paper explores the nexus between green innovation and ecological footprint for the case of the top 20 green innovator countries. As a comprehensive environmental sustainability indicator, the ecological footprint is employed to observe the environmental impacts of green innovation. We apply cross-sectional dependence tests, panel unit root tests and panel cointegration tests covering the period of 1993-2016. The results show that economic growth is the primary reason for environmental degradation while urbanization does not have a statistically significant effect. Renewable energy consumption has a moderating influence on ecological footprint. More importantly, environment-related technologies have a statistically significant effect on ecological footprint. Specifically, a 1% increase in environment-related technologies leads to a 0.129% decrease in ecological footprint. The findings of the study clearly demonstrate that it is possible to achieve economic growth while protecting the environment. The results of the study are expected to be motivating for countries' transition toward green innovation in that sustainable development can be achieved if countries invest in green innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the incremental growth in overall world population, environmental related aftermaths of industrial development are becoming challenges for sustainability. In social perspective, poverty eradication is still the biggest global need which is an indispensable prerequisite for sustainable development (SD). As a solution, business organizations in various industries need to do the efforts with zero‐sum competition for a trailblazing initiative of SD in context of social and environmental protection. Based on triple bottom line theory, this paper introduces the terminologies of social and environmental collective protection (SECP) and social and environmental collective development (SECD) by answering the research question as how the nonprofit orientation can be promoted and sustained within the for‐profit businesses. Using textual analytical approach, this research achieves the main objective to highlight the impact of mutual corporate initiatives as a business strategy on social and environmental sustainability. This article finds that social and environmental development depends upon social and environmental protection when it is measured in terms of collective SD goals. In addition to initiating the new terminologies contributing to the literature of SD measures for society and environment, this paper has practical implications for United Nations (UN) for their 2030 vision of social development for SD. Utilization of this paper is not limited till 2030 because it is expected that a broad range of researchers will use our described concepts for scholarly discussions and future empirical studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A diversity of place‐based community economic practices that enact ethical interdependence has long enabled livelihoods in Monsoon Asia. Managed either democratically or coercively, these culturally inflected practices have survived the rise of a cash economy, albeit in modified form, sometimes being co‐opted to state projects. In the modern development imaginary, these practices have been positioned as ‘traditional’, ‘rural’ and largely superseded. But if we read against the grain of modernisation, a largely hidden geography of community economic practices emerges. This paper introduces the project of documenting keywords of place‐based community economies in Monsoon Asia. It extends Raymond William’s cultural analysis of keywords into a non‐western context and situates this discursive approach within a material semiotic framing. The paper has been collaboratively written with co‐researchers across Southeast Asia and represents an experimental mode of scholarship that aims to advance a post‐development agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the theoretical framework of socio-political economics, and more specifically of stakeholder theory, this work examines whether companies operating under different institutional constraints and stakeholder pressure tend to emphasize different models of corporate environmental reporting. Furthermore, the paper tests whether different corporate environmental reporting policies are driven by the countries' corporate governance systems. A sample of 3931 international companies was examined through a logistic biplot and conditional mean linear regression models. The main results reveal that companies follow two distinct environmental reporting approaches, which depend on specific stakeholders and institutional requirements. The first model, which is followed by firms within codified law countries, mostly focuses on water and emissions. The second approach, mainly followed by companies operating in common law countries, emphasizes materials and energy issues. This finding reveals that companies gradually modify their environmental strategies to make themselves more compatible with the characteristics of the social and institutional environment, which will result in several corporate benefits. The paper provides several outstanding implications for companies' strategic managers, national institutions and firms' stakeholders, especially for investors and customers. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Businesses are increasingly called on to participate in tackling biodiversity loss, but the extent of corporate commitments to act is unclear. We have a limited understanding of differences in perceptions and actions regarding biodiversity across business sectors. Doubts also remain concerning the reliability of corporate reporting as a window into business involvement in biodiversity. This paper tackles these uncertainties by using formal corporate reporting and interviews with managers and stakeholders about actions regarding biodiversity as the evidence base. Taking the cases of forestry and salmon farming in Chile, it finds sectoral differences are influenced by distinct regulatory settings and forms of stakeholder engagement. Whilst reporting serves as a partial window into each sector, manager interviews and stakeholder accounts indicate firms in both sectors perceive biodiversity primarily as a reputational risk rather than a core responsibility. In both cases, businesses have used formal corporate reporting to mask negative impacts, and it has failed to leverage fundamental reform. The findings indicate that formal reporting can only ever play a partial role in understanding and motivating business action on biodiversity. Stakeholder views and the particularities of local contexts must be more clearly articulated to ensure businesses undertake substantive rather than symbolic action on their impacts. The paper concludes by reflecting on implications for Natural Capital reporting and identifies limitations and avenues for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper aims to identify the consequences of integrating stakeholder engagement in sustainable development represented by environmental performance using data from 226 industrial corporations. To the best of our knowledge, there is no empirical evidence on how three levels of stakeholder integration (knowledge, interaction and adoptive behaviour) might affect environmental performance as represented by a reduction in both resource usage and waste. Additionally, related research has been conducted in developed countries, with little attention being directed to developing countries. The paper aims to fill these gaps by providing empirical evidence on how the stakeholder theory might work in less‐developed countries. The study opts for a cross‐sectional study using a self‐reported questionnaire. Structural equation modelling indicated that engaging stakeholders in corporate activities would result in less damage to the environment. However, the knowledge of stakeholders per se will not lead to any reduction in either waste or resource usage. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has grown into a central feature of the global carbon market. Besides a range of normative and evaluative research into the CDM, scholars have applied international relations perspectives in which the CDM has been analysed as an example of global governance, engaging multiple actors across administrative levels. This paper focuses on a national government and how its activities affect the CDM market. We draw on an empirical case study of China to demonstrate how governmental action can be understood in light of national institutional factors, defined as normative, cognitive or regulative elements. The paper describes and explains the extensiveness of Chinese government action regarding the CDM and discusses its consequences for the market. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contemporary world faces an unprecedented environmental challenge. Past international research has amply shown that we cannot afford to wait for a 'development path' that automatically takes us on a sustainable future. Whether we look at global or local problems, the international debate increasingly points to the importance of popular support for environmental protection by a broad spectrum of stakeholders. Because environmental sustainability questions the way we produce, consume, and distribute the product of our work, an economic analysis that is limited to one market is insufficient. In addressing Bromley's question, 'How do we wish the future to unfold for us?' this paper argues for the need to devote resources to understanding the spillovers between institutional settings and preferences toward the provision of global public goods. Here, this review focuses on labor-market institutions, as labor markets are traditionally the context in which inequality is created at the local and global levels. Labor-market institutional design, via its impact on risk and uncertainty and inequality, may have sizable implications on the provision of environmental care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper highlights the critical role played by ecofeminism and stakeholder engagement in the region to depict a symbiotic relationship between women and forests that is critical in sustaining human and non-human life in the Garhwal Himalayan region of India. While it uses ecofeminism to demonstrate the positive role of community in sustainable forestry and development, the chief aim of the paper is to highlight the need to go beyond the ‘civil society’ versus ‘state’ debate that has become rather popular in the development studies discourse. Instead, the paper posits the need for the two to work in active collusion, not only to be successful but also because it is what the subject/agent needs and demands. This paper is the result of field research by the author in the summer of 2004 in the Garhwal Himalayan region of India. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The management of carbon emissions holds some prospect for challenging sustainable development as the organising principle of socio-environmental regulation. This paper explores the rise of a distinctive low-carbon polity as an ideological state project, and examines its potential ramifications for the regulation of economy–environment relations at the urban and regional scale. Carbon control would seem to introduce a new set of values into state regulation and this might open up possibilities for challenging mainstream modes of urban and regional development in a manner not possible under sustainable development. But low-carbon restructuring also portends intensified uneven development, new forms of state control and a socially uneven reworking of state–society relations. In order to explore these issues we start by setting out a framework for conceptualising environmental regulation based around the idea of eco-state restructuring. This idea is introduced to capture the conflicts, power struggles and strategic selectivities involved as governments seek to reconcile environmental protection with multiple other pressures and demands. Overall the paper seeks to make a distinctive contribution to theoretical work on state environmental regulation and the emerging spatial dimensions of climate policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa's National Environmental Management Act (Act 107 of 1998) recognises the important role of women and youth in environmental management and development. To this end, significant strides have been made by the country in gender mainstreaming. The "Environment Sector Gender Framework" and the "Framework and Strategy Toward Gender Mainstreaming in the Environment Sector 2016–2021" are some of the policy frameworks that have been implemented. In addition, a number of initiatives and programmes such as the Green Fund, established in April 2012, the Groen Sebenza Learnership Programme, and environmental conservation through the Expanded Public Works Programme have been developed. Using a mixed method research design approach, the paper attempts to answer the following questions: Are the concerns and perspectives of women sufficiently integrated in the green economy and environmental sector policies and programmes? What green economy and environmental sector projects are women involved in and what is the proportion of women involved in such projects? Through simple random sampling, the study established that space has been created for women involvement in the green economy and environmental sectors. However, there still remains a need to raise awareness of the available opportunities and interventions to build capacity at project conceptualisation and management levels. The involvement of women further requires meaningful public participation, social inclusion, and the devolution and decentralisation of decision‐making processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable development is conceptualized in this paper as a serious challenge for governance structures and processes in nation states. Global and European agreements have placed the inclusion of civil society actors in policy-making at the heart of the sustainability agenda. This commitment is particularly evident in the Commission's White Paper on Governance and the EU Sustainable Development Strategy. From this perspective, the European Commission has consistently underlined the integral role of dialogue with social partners in any sustainability agenda. In contrast, there is a clear mismatch between these principles of civil society inclusion and policy-making in France. Long-standing traditions of meso-corporatism have struggled to adapt to extending participation to civil society actors. This paper assesses the implementation of sustainable development as civil society inclusion with reference to the French experience in dealing with EU biodiversity policy. It is argued that this governance challenge has effectively presented nation states with an ‘interpretation dilemma’ with regards to sustainable development. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past few years have seen a phenomenal rise in the production and consumption of biofuels and biodiesel at the global level. This development is of special significance to Africa, where about 550 million people (75% of the total population in Sub-Saharan Africa) depend on traditional biomass (wood, charcoal, cow dung, etc.) and lack access to electricity or any kind of modern energy service. Derived from plants and agricultural crops, biofuels and biodiesel represent modern forms of bioenergy and more efficient use of biomass energy. Beyond efficiency, modern bioenergy offers tremendous opportunities to meet growing household energy demands, increase income, reduce poverty, and mitigate environmental degradation. In the African setting, energy and livelihoods security are indeed inseparable. This paper argues economic, social, and environmental benefits of modern bioenergy can be realized through a strategy that centres on smallholder production and processing schemes and pursuit of a livelihood approach to energy development. Such a scheme opens up new domestic markets, generates new cash incomes, improves social wellbeing, enhances new technology adoption, and lays the ground for rural economic transformation and sustainable land use. The paper concludes by underlining the vital importance of considering sound property rights and strategic planning of sustainable development as tools for sustainable energy and livelihoods security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental sustainability indices, such as the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes and the Ethibel Sustainability Index, quantify the development and promotion of sustainable social, ethical and environmental values in the community. Moreover, such indices provide a benchmark for managing sustainability portfolios, and developing financial products and services that are linked to sustainable economic, environmental, social and ethical criteria. This paper reviews the existing data and risk indices in environmental finance. The main purpose of the paper is to analyse existing sustainability and ethical indices in environmental finance, and evaluate empirical environmental risk by estimating conditional volatility clustering that is inherent in these indices. Financial volatility models are estimated to analyse the underlying conditional volatility or time-varying risk that is inherent in alternative environmental sustainability indices. Volatility clustering is observed for most series, but some extreme observations are also evident. The log- and second-moment conditions suggest that valid inferences can be drawn for purposes of sensible empirical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information about the University of São Paulo (USP) Recicla program which is financed by the university and is coordinated through the Executive Coordinator of University Cooperation and Special Activities in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In addition to promoting the minimization and appropriate disposal of waste, the program encourages environmental sustainability and seeks to improve the community's overall quality of life. The program aims to promote the formation of environmental ideals that can help meet the challenge of constructing a sustainable society.

This paper develops a typology of visibility in an environmental context. Although visibility has been neglected and ill defined in contemporary environmental management research, environmental visibility can be a useful construct for predicting green organizational response. As such, it might prove a useful tool for environmental management researchers, policy-makers and business strategists. The paper derives a conceptual typology of visibility from previous organizational theory research. Visibility is considered both as a characteristic of an organization and as a characteristic of an issue, and at both the corporate and operating unit levels. Data collected in a recent series of interviews in 24 business units in UK PLCs are analysed to provide examples of the types of visibility in an environmental context. The resultant environmental visibility typology is used to discuss the relationship between environmental visibility and green organizational responses. This study's findings suggest that considering environmental visibility as a predictor of green organizational response should be fruitful for future empirical research, and useful for policy-makers and business strategists. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Earth Summit on Sustainable Development in 1992 brought about a fundamental shift in the mandate of environmental policy. How to protect the environment and nature from citizens was no longer the main issue. Rather, the focus was how to organize majorities among citizens for a collective effort on a societal transformation towards sustainability. The environmental effects of citizens' everyday routines of consumption came into focus and ways of influencing them were sought. In this paper, one of the strategies German environmental policy employs for observing the everyday consumption of citizens is analyzed. How this approach has evolved during the last decades will be shown, as well as shortcomings of the current approach. Drawing on considerations from theories of social practice, three kinds of reason for these shortcomings are discussed. The first one lies in an ambivalent (or paradoxical) relation of environmental policy-makers to consumers' 'rationality'. The second reason is related to the first and refers to the different horizons of consumers' everyday practices and practices of environmental policy. The third reason is rooted in the excessive and unrealistic demand on environmental policy that accompanies the sustainability mandate. The paper concludes by suggesting a social innovation-oriented policy as a way of connecting political goals to actual changes in consumption practices. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the accelerating industrialization process, even further increasing population and mass deforestation, 'sustainability' as a concept has only recently been popularized in Bangladesh. This paper sheds light on the sustainable development process in Bangladesh. It points out the major challenges to this process and identifies the motivating factors for a sustainable society in Bangladesh. The paper concludes with some strategies that are considered essential for the development of a sustainable society in Bangladesh, e.g., strong and effective regulatory framework, emphasis on rural entrepreneurship, development of indigenous technology and an integrated environmental management system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three decades after the launch of sustainable development as a key objective for the global community, the unsustainable exploitation of the planet's species, spaces and systems continues. This paper examines this failure by discussing the strategy of control over nature, and the idea of balance between human endeavour and nature, inherent in the term sustainable. The relevance of such ecological balance is assessed by comparing how consumption typically appears in modern human societies versus nature. This presents traits of the human actor which depart significantly from the traits of actors in typified natural settings, from which ideas of ecological balance are taken. Calling for an alternative framing of the relationship between human society and nature, possible adaptation towards a biological understanding of such a relationship is discussed through features of today's consumption, including its connection to needs, the role of labour, and the use of energy and technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the concept of sustainability consciousness, an individual's experience and awareness of sustainable development, is introduced. Based on UNESCO's definition of sustainable development, a sustainability consciousness questionnaire (SCQ) is theoretically and empirically developed. Using the data of 638 respondents from Sweden aged 18–19 years old, the scale is developed in two versions. The long version (SCQ‐L) can be used to measure individuals' environmental, social and economic knowingness, attitudes and behaviour (nine valid and reliable subscales), in addition to the second order constructs of sustainability knowingness, sustainability attitudes and sustainability behaviour, as well as the third order construct, sustainability consciousness. For the short version (SCQ‐S) 27 items were identified that can be used to measure the second and third order constructs. Both versions of the scale present excellent psychometric quality. Possible applications of the questionnaire instruments in the context of evaluation of sustainability policies, practices and stakeholder engagement are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, the world's national governments committed to preparing strategies to achieve sustainable development. This paper describes an evaluation framework for measuring the success of these efforts to achieve environmental goals in sustainable development. The framework evaluates two dimensions of sustainable development planning: the environmental planning system, and environmental outcomes. An application of the methodology to evaluate environmental performance in Germany illustrates that the proposed method is relatively easy to apply, transparent, and identifies the strengths and weaknesses of a country's environmental performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper addresses the issue of how sustainable supply practices are actually used as a leverage for sustainable development (SD). In order to assess the level of sustainable supply management within an organization, the authors have reviewed the literature extensively and then developed a five‐step maturity model around five management dimensions. A qualitative exploratory approach based on two detailed case studies of organizations whose reputation for SD is recognized internationally has been used. This methodology allowed us to show (1) how sustainable supply practices could be used as a leverage for an organization's sustainable development approach and (2) that sustainable supply practices still have quite a distance to go with regards to the maturity model for sustainable supply, even in organizations that are often mentioned as leaders in the SD area. In these organizations, managers still emphasize environmental considerations, while neglecting practices that would make it possible to reach the three SD objectives simultaneously. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study analyzes the characteristics of publications on sustainability topics and education for sustainability in the Web of Science (WOS) database during the period ranging from 2005 to 2014. We identified the topics that are being studied within those subjects and other relevant topics. We also analyzed a special edition of the Journal of Cleaner Production on “Higher Education for Sustainable Development: Emerging areas,” published in January, 2014. Our approach was both qualitative and quantitative and aimed at qualifying and quantifying certain variables related to the scientific literature on the broad subject of sustainability. The number of published pieces in the WOS focusing on sustainability issues during the period from 2005 to 2014 was 5,924. In our analysis of the special edition of the Journal of Cleaner Production, we found and analyzed 17 abstracts and full papers. The main results of our survey highlight the education, educational research, environmental sciences, ecology, and engineering areas as including the greatest number of publications. Articles, as opposed to conference proceedings or reviews, accounted for 63% of the published documents, and the year 2013 showed the largest number of publications. Huisingh, Suciu, Katane, and Barth are the most published authors on these topics. Furthermore, management, environmental studies, ecology, and environmental sciences are the “hot topics” with the best search results, meaning articles of impact and high quality. Finally, it should be emphasized that publications on the subject of sustainability appear most often in the sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This research was conducted with the objective of determining and evidencing the social and environmental/economic results from the implementation of a reverse logistics program providing for the recycling, reuse, and, when necessary, final, environmentally correct disposal of post‐consumption products and product wastes by a multinational manufacturer of computer peripherals with an operation based in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. The reverse logistics process (logisticareversa, or, in this paper, LR) was intended to meet the objectives and principles of the regulatory framework defined in the National Solid Waste Policy (PNRS) in Brazil. A single case study was carried out. The results showed that after the adoption of the solid waste management policy, the study company no longer disposed of 1,413,552 kilograms (kg) of materials classified as mixed iron, polystyrene, cardboard, toner powder, and plastic in landfills. The LR process made a profit in two companies: the company surveyed made, in Brazilian reais (R), R$ 9,188,185.51, and the company contracted to carry out the process made, R$ 411,325.97. This latter profit is called by us the “social profit.” The measurement of the environmental/economic, social, and financial results by internalizing the expenses of the LR program into the costs of production shows that reuse and recycling better meets the needs of society and the company than landfilling these post‐consumption materials. Furthermore, the use of cost accounting allows the verification of other goals not indicated in the current model, such as the generation of employment, income, mitigation of environmental problems, and the profit earned by the company contracted to implement the LR process. We also conclude that cost accounting makes it possible to obtain necessary information for decision makers, who are seeking to neutralize environmental impacts and promote sustainable development, thus harmonizing the economic, social, and environmental aspects, to understand the impacts of the LR process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Greening the economy has been widely discussed as a new strategy for simultaneously reducing environmental pressures, promoting economic growth and enhancing social well‐being. Indicators are one tool that can be used to describe the development of green growth. This paper presents and evaluates the process of attempting to build a set of policy‐relevant key indicators of green growth for Finland. The challenges of developing a cross‐scale indicator set integrating different sectors and levels of society are identified and discussed. It is argued that both the experts preparing the indicators and the potential users will benefit from a collaborative process that aims not only to build a shared awareness of the key issues of green growth but also to foster a realistic understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the indicator approach. Key challenges include data availability, right balance between different indicator selection criteria, systemic understanding of the relationships between indicators, and the variable usage contexts of the indicators. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The efficacy of waste recycling is closely associated with the environmental sustainability of a city. However, just like many other environmental protection initiatives, waste recycling requires stakeholder engagement to succeed. Exploring determinants of waste recycling behaviour helps policy-makers to formulate schemes to promote recycling effectively. While most literature has studied the factors affecting waste recycling in low-rise low-density housing, little ink has been spilt on the same in a high-rise high-density residential setting. In this paper, the determinants of the amount of recyclables collected in 122 private high-rise housing estates in Hong Kong are investigated, with the use of a set of aggregate data. Household income, age and institution of regular reward schemes were found to have positive relationships with the amount of recyclables collected. Despite the optimism among some scholars about more conveniently located waste drop-off facilities as a motivator for waste recycling, the analysis results of this empirical study suggest that a floor-based system of waste separation facilities is by itself not likely to be effective in promoting domestic waste recycling in high-rises. To tackle the contemporary waste problem for the city's sustainable development, resort should be made to more intensified environmental education and economic incentives. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing awareness of environmental quality has placed increased pressure on China to improve environmental protection and regulations in the country. How have the regional economies in the country performed in terms of environmental efficiency? The answer to this question is yet to be explored in the case of China. The objective of this paper is to present a quantitative analysis of environmental performance in China's regional economies and to examine the determinants of regional variation in performance. The findings are used to draw policy implications for environmental protection and are helpful in the discussion of China's future sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction industry has great opportunities to significantly reduce CO2 emissions by improving the energy efficiency of residential buildings. However, in this industry, diffusion of cost-effective clean technologies has been notoriously slow and below potential. This paper sheds light on factors that explain why construction companies have been reluctant to adopt energy-efficient technologies. It questions why some companies have intensified their investments in clean technologies, while others are lagging behind. Based on a multiple case study of four Dutch building contractors, the paper shows that contractors that actively gather information and build internal technical capacity are keener on adopting energy-efficient technologies. Findings also reveal that it will be a major challenge for the construction industry to communicate the advantages of clean technologies to (potential) home buyers and create market demand. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effective design of field studies requires that sample size requirements be estimated for important endpoints before conducting assessments. This a priori calculation of sample size requires initial estimates for the variability of the endpoints of interest, decisions regarding significance levels and the power desired, and identification of an effect size to be detected. Although many programs have called for use of critical effect sizes (CES) in the design of monitoring programs, few attempts have been made to define them. This paper reviews approaches that have been or could be used to set specific CES. The ideal method for setting CES would be to define the level of protection that prevents ecologically relevant impacts and to set a warning level of change that would be more sensitive than that CES level to provide a margin of safety; however, few examples of this approach being applied exist. Program-specific CES could be developed through the use of numbers based on regulatory or detection limits, a number defined through stakeholder negotiation, estimates of the ranges of reference data, or calculation from the distribution of data using frequency plots or multivariate techniques. The CES that have been defined often are consistent with a CES of approximately 25%, or two standard deviations, for many biological or ecological monitoring endpoints, and this value appears to be reasonable for use in a wide variety of monitoring programs and with a wide variety of endpoints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores a sustainability divide in urban environmental protection in China with its 72 Model Cities, 113 key cities, and 43 most polluted cities. It investigates factors that help understand such a divide, the applicability of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC), and policies for sustainable urban development. Geographic information systems (GIS) and statistical analyses used data derived from documents, statistical records, publications, on-site inspections and field research. The key cities were divided into seven groups based on eight environmental indicators. The research found a sustainability gap between eastern and western cities, or between Model Cities and other key cities. Oddly, environmental spending was not found to be an explanation. The paper argues that sustainability studies needs to move beyond the EKC to consider the role of nature. Chinese policy makers should not use the Model Cities to support the ‘grow first and clean up later’ approach. Instead they should promote sustainability in all parts of China. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper defines and uses the concepts environmental policy cycle and innovation cycle and explores the links between the two in search for an environmental policy that creates incentives for innovation in environmental technology. We conclude that key factors are shortening the period the bureaucracy takes for preparing new environmental requirements, transparency and consistency of bureaucratic and political decision-making and fast and strict implementation with environmental policy instruments that give pollution sources freedom in their choice of suitable technology. Economic instruments provide strong incentives for innovation because they speed up implementation. Large R&D subsidies may be needed to make technology development profitable under the conventional policy of direct regulation by emission standards and regulation by way of covenants. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is part of the special issue of European Environment devoted to the outputs of the EU SRDTOOLS project,1 which developed and applied a new model of regional sustainable development evaluation. The paper introduces the concept and framework of the four-capital model, which was used in the project. First it discusses some issues around sustainable development evaluation, before introducing the theory of the four-capital model. It then describes how indicators can be used to evaluate programmes such as those financed by the EU Structural Funds against criteria for sustainable regional development in terms of the four capitals. An ‘ideal’ indicator set is listed in the appendix. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National strategies for sustainable development are gaining increasing recognition as an instrument to reconcile needs of development and environmental protection by improving policy-making procedures. The paper assesses the Slovak sustainable development strategy in the context of two key documents, the National Strategy for Sustainable Development of the Slovak Republic (MESR, 2001a) and the Action Plan for Sustainable Development of the Slovak Republic for 2005–2010 (OGSR, 2005). Focus is mainly placed on horizontal policy integration, but institutional arrangements and mechanisms for implementation, monitoring and review, stakeholder participation and vertical integration are also assessed. Based on the results of a series of interviews with ministerial planners and utilizing the example of the Working Group for Environmental Education, the paper identifies barriers to horizontal policy integration. The main conclusion is that improvement of mechanisms for horizontal policy integration is offset by recession in other areas, including public participation. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing resource and environmental pressures have impeded China's efforts to quickly promote its people's quality of life, while protecting its natural environment. Due to lack of resources, technologies and capital, China needs to seek a more integrated development strategy. Industrial ecology (IE) may be one solution as it aims at optimizing the use of materials and energy in products, processes, industrial sectors and economies by systemically mimicking natural systems in an industrial setting. The relevant practices and experiences in the developed world have proved that there is a degree of effectiveness and efficiency to development through the application of IE. It is even more critical to apply the principles of IE in China, where resources are scarce. However, compared with developed nations, China faces different environmental, economic and social constraints. Therefore, China has to adopt different approaches to implement the concept of IE. In this paper, we first review the current practices in eco-industrial development in China. Then the advantages and barriers to applying IE in China are analyzed and recommendations are provided. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wilderness protection is a growing necessity for modern societies, and this is particularly true for areas where population density is extremely high, for example Europe. Conservation, however, implies very high opportunity costs. It is thus crucial to create incentives for efficient management practices, to promote benchmarking and to improve conservation management. In the present paper we propose a methodology based on data envelopment analysis, DEA, a non-parametric benchmarking technique specifically developed to assess the relative efficiency of decision-making units. In particular, the objective of the discussed methodology is to assess the relative efficiency of the management units of the protected area and to indicate how it could be improved, by providing a set of guidelines. The main advantage of this methodology is that it allows us to assess the efficiency of natural park management not only internally (comparing the performance of the park with itself over time) but also by external benchmarking, thus providing new and different perspectives on potential improvements. Although the proposed methodology is fairly general, we have applied it to the context of Italian national parks in order to produce a representative case study. Specifically, the choice of adequate cost and benefit indicators is a very important and delicate phase of any benchmark analysis. For this purpose, a questionnaire was used to investigate the opinions of Italian national park managers and stakeholders and to define the relevant indicators for the analysis. Finally, relevant policy implications for the case study are given. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses upon the sustainability of the economy in relation to nature and natural ecosystems. There are two main aspects to this relationship: consumption of natural resources; and generation of pollution and wastes because of economic practices of production, exchange and consumption. The paper addresses the extent to which both consumption of natural resources and production of pollution and wastes can be reduced and the economy and its constituent practices and spaces be made more sustainable, recognizing that sustainability involves cultural, political–economic and social dimensions as well as the impact of human activity on nature. A close and critical reading of the literatures on industrial ecology, industrial metabolism and natural capitalism provides an entry point into these issues. These literatures help identify the ‘natural limits’ to economic practices but are themselves limited in their approach to issues of sustainability. The paper explores these latter limits and their implications. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most people regard sustainable development as essentially a matter of intertemporal ethics. This paper argues that the crux is excessive environmental disruption due to an inadequate account for the external costs on other people now, rather than due to inadequate concern for our grandchildren. Even with full concern, the excessive disruption will be virtually unchanged. This paper also argues that intertemporal impartial welfare maximization is the appropriate objective to pursue. This involves treating the welfare of future generations on a par with that of our own but with all welfare values appropriately weighted by the probability of their realization. Since the probability of non-survival is cumulative, this acts like a discount rate, though justified on completely different grounds. This solves the paradoxes of non-existence of a solution or incomplete rankings associated with choices involving an infinite time horizon without discounting. Sustainable development has been a hot topic for decades now. Most people regard it as essentially a matter of intertemporal ethics. This paper argues that the crux of the matter is excessive environmental disruption. With the proper control of environmental disruption, sustainable development will not be a problem in practice. Moreover, with or without proper control, impartial welfare maximization is sufficient to answer problems of sustainable development and intertemporal ethics at least at the conceptual level. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participation at the local level is an important factor in determining the success of programmes developed to achieve sustainable development. This paper is concerned with debates over the role of the individual citizen in relation to that participatory process. In particular, it focuses on the UK Governments’ citizens environmental initiative ‘Going for Green’ (GFG). Through this initiative a five-point Green Code was developed to assist in the delivery of its sustainable development message to the general public. The initiative's overall approach to participation was based on an assumption that the primary barrier to translating environmental concern into local action was a lack of information, and that individuals would respond to messages in a similar way. As a research strategy, the case study was used to evaluate how the initiatives’ pilot Sustainable Communities Project was implemented in two comparative geographical communities in Merthyr Tydfil (South Wales). Research findings from this study have demonstrated that the case study was invaluable in terms of understanding the participatory process and experiences of broad a range of community stakeholders. Promoting a single model of participation, GFG was found to restrict the participatory process in terms of who was encouraged to participate, the scope of their participation, and those outcomes that could be achieved. This paper concludes that if significant progress is to be made in relation to achieving sustainable development, the role of the individual citizen needs to be extended beyond that of a consumer of the environment, and involve active participation in a process that is based on collective action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the implementation of Directive 2001/42/EC on the assessment of the effects of certain plans and programmes on the environment (the ‘SEA Directive’) in the UK and draws out wider implications from the UK approach for implementation across the EU as a whole. The paper begins with a brief overview of the UK's progress in implementing the directive in relation to three key issues: establishing the legal framework for implementing the directive; identifying those plans and programmes to which the directive will apply and providing support for implementation (e.g. through guidance and training). The paper then focuses on three sectors – land use planning, water and energy – and discusses key issues affecting implementation in each sector. In the land use planning sector, for example, a key issue is the incorporation of the SEA Directive's requirements into a wider sustainability appraisal process, which addresses economic and social as well as environmental concerns. The sectoral comparison is followed by a discussion of the issues confronting the UK and the potential lessons for the EU as a whole and a series of recommendations to guide implementation. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]